State shelves 219 realignment project

Drivers concerned about the effects of a controversial major realignment at the Midway Curve on Oregon Highway 219 needn’t worry anymore, at least for the foreseeable future.

The project to realign the highway from Laurel Road to Midway Road, including a major cutback of the 90-degree angle at milepost 7.5 and a regrade of the highway near Laurel, has been scrapped due to lack of funding, said Lili Gordon, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Another safety project going to bid in spring is still on, with the primary purpose of reducing the angle of Brown’s Corner, about a mile east of Midway, and improving sight distance at Wolsborn Avenue, about another mile south.

Project Leader Dave Taylor said designers, neighbors and stakeholders to try to solve the problems at Midway and Laurel roads, but relatively low accident rates combined with the expense to make real fixes impractical.

“We came up with quite an assortment of design options,” Taylor said. But as a safety project, it gets funding based on benefit cost, he said. “With all the funding issues we were having, we decided to switch our focus to higher priorities. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going away forever.”

That’s just fine with Washington County District No. 2 Fire Chief Dan England, who has watched for 18 months as the project’s managers fumbled with different ideas on how to cut down the angle on Midway’s 90-degree curve without affecting the districts Midway fire station, located directly to south. Not to mention residential and business neighbors to the south and west, he said.

One solution bandied about would have turned Midway Road into a southbound one-way route where it leaves Highway 219. Fire department vehicles and other neighbors who use northbound Midway would have to use “a ridiculous 2-mile loop” back to McCormick Hill Road and use Reynard or Laurel roads to access the highway, England said. Another plan had a convoluted ramp system allowing emergency vehicles to access the highway directly from the station.

The planned 2010 safety project would also have added a left turn lane on Highway 219 at Laurel Road for northbound motorists, Gordon said.

It’s not that unusual for a project of this size to fall through in the late development stages, she said.

“Sometimes we’ll get through with all the planning, and anticipate the funding will be there, and it doesn’t come through,” Gordon said.

All agree it’s much more important to address the problems at Brown’s Corner and Wolsborn Curve, where excessive speed make crashes a regular part of life for residents and first responders.

According to ODOT, there were more than 15 crashes and a dozen injuries combined at the two locations between 2001 and 2005.

Over the last five years, the transportation department has already completed safety projects at the Highway 219’s intersections with Tongue Lane and Farmington, Burkhalter, Simpson and Unger roads, as well as improvements and a traffic signal at the intersection of Walnut Street and First Avenue, where the highway leaves Hillsboro to the south.

For information on other Portland and surrounding area construction projects and incidents, contact Lili Gordon at 503-731-8247.

This story appeared on page A1 of the Feb. 5, 2010 Hillsboro Argus. To receive the Argus every Tuesday and Friday this year for only $40, click here.